BlooMoon's review of Picross 3D: Round 2.

Dylan’s Games Finished 2025 12. Picross 3D: Round 2 (3DS) Play Time: 29 hours Start Date: 3/1/2025 Finish Date: 4/17/2025 Picross always seemed intimidating and confusing to me. But I also saw how excited some people got for it, and knew that if I ever actually learned how it worked, it would suck me in. And yeah, that’s what happened. This game was another one I picked up near the eShop closure due to many recommendations. At the time, I wasn’t sure if I’d like it, so I only got Round 2. Now in hindsight I wish I’d grabbed the first Picross 3D as well. This game is simple and addicting. The gradual difficulty increase allows the game to slowly teach you more and more techniques and tricks, and I could see myself improving quickly as I went along. Going back to the older puzzles that I struggled with and getting a perfect score feels awesome. This game is basically crack to someone with ADHD. The flood of dopamine from finishing quick puzzles makes it very hard to put down. I would sneak it in during all hours of the day, including work breaks and the middle of the night. It did not take long for me to start seeing the blocks in my head whenever I closed my eyes. Few games have given me such a strong case of the Tetris Effect. It helps that the presentation is very good, music is catchy and varied, and the controls are surprisingly intuitive and natural for how complex some of the puzzles can be. And seeing all the fun little abstract models once you finish the puzzles is fun too. I did not realize this was a HAL game going in, but it was nice to experience their signature level of charm and polish. Also, shout out to this game for having amiibo support. Unlocking special puzzles of Nintendo characters based on amiibo was awesome. I just wish there were more than 9 amiibo puzzles. Y’know, because I have 100+ of those suckers. All in all, great game. I unlocked a ton more puzzles after rolling the credits, but I am going to take a break now for the sake of my own sanity and time management.